Author/Mechanic. Boulay's Garage: 603-358-6444

New Years Resolution:Take Better Care Of Your Car In 2013,Budget For Maintenance!

January 3rd, 2013 Joe

How much do you set aside to maintain your vehicle during the course of a year? Do you follow a maintenance schedule that is in your vehicles owners manual? Maybe this year you can start to set aside $4.00 a day for a maintenance for your car. That’s right for only four bucks a day, you can set aside the money you should

need to cover your maintenance expenses for the year. Get your self an envelope and mark it” Car maintenance Money” and start tucking the $4 a day away and you will be surprised how quickly it adds up. It is however important to start this process when your car is fairly new with low miles for the best results possible. If you own a vehicle that is older with higher mileage and you have not been on top of your maintenance here is what you can do. The first thing you can do is get your vehicle evaluated to prioritize what you need to get taken care of first. For example if you have your older car evaluated the service advisor tells you: “Your front brakes are low and you will need to replace them soon”. You are also told that your transmission fluid is starting to get dirty and should replace it soon. Yes both of them are important,however it is much more important to have your car stop when you need it to! So yes it is obvious that replacing the brakes first would be on top of your priority list. Anytime that I perform a complete check over on a vehicle I make a list of items needed. The safety items are on the top of the list and all other items that should be addressed in the future are at the middle to bottom of the list. Start the new year out right and have a complete evaluation done on your older car. Then have your mechanic go over them with you to which items you should attack first. If you own a new or almost brand new car reference the maintenance recommendation section of your owners manual. Make sure you follow maintenance section for “severe” conditions. Also pick up a copy of my book “If That Car Could Talk” How to locate and maintain a good used car , for more definitive service recommendations.